The Coming Times
by Nexavus
Summary: After the events of RWBY Volume I, team JNPR is preparing for the upcoming tournament in Vale. But when a dire situation arises near Pyrrha's home, team JNPR must use every asset it has in order to prevent the loss of its most important team member. [Rated T for possible language, suggestive themes, and violence] Arkos and Renora. I appreciate any constructive criticism and reviews
1. Good Morning Team JNPR

As the shattered moon sunk below the horizon, its place was taken by the bright, glowing rays of the Sun. The formerly pitch sky began to become sprinkled with trails of orange and red, reflecting off the high-floating clouds above Beacon Academy.

A girl sat alone on the roof of her dormitory, gazing into the beautiful sky above. Her deep red hair, glowing in the light of morning, laid upon her shoulders, loose and free-flowing. Green eyes glittering like emeralds, she continued to gaze into the morning bloom. The songbirds started their pitch-perfect singing, and the girl threw her arms back and laid down, a smile growing across her young face.

"Pyrrha?" Called a voice from downstairs. "Are you up there?" The voice cracked briefly as the question came to its conclusion, but it had grown since Pyrrha had come to know it.

Standing up, Pyrrha called back, "Yes, Jaune." She whipped her head around, her bright hair coming out even more as the Sun climbed higher into the sky. Now, her head clear of thoughts, she stepped towards the entryway into the staircase leading down to where Jaune awaited.

Jaune looked elated, something out of the ordinary for him. Despite lying in order to gain entry to Beacon, he was proving himself to be quite the student. After discovering his aura, he started to become one of the best defensive fighters in the current class of students at Beacon. "Good morning," he grinned.

"Good morning, yourself." The duo walked, side-by-side, down the long hallway to their room, shared by the two other members of team JNPR, Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren. "Sorry for disappearing without any notice. I've just been feeling… strange recently." She stopped at their door and turned around to look at Jaune.

"Pyrrha," Jaune began, "is anything wrong?" He gently rested a hand on her exposed shoulder, looking her in the eyes. "I'm here for you if you need me. I'll always be here."

Pyrrha let loose a small giggle and smiled, easing Jaune's hand off of her shoulder. "It's nothing important. I'm most likely just a little bit homesick." Quickly, she spun around and opened the door to Nora's babbling, most likely aimed towards Ren.

"So I've been thinking, what's the competition going to be like in the tournament coming up? I was talking to Ruby earlier, and she said there was a girl who had swords that flew out of her back. Swords! Out of her back! Can you believe that? Swords in her back!" Nora bounced on Ren's bed, who was still half-asleep and groggy. "She also said something about some faunus who looked like a monkey. I wonder if he is a monkey! I've always wanted a monkey as a pet. Don't you think a monkey would be a great pet? I think so."

"I'll let you talk to Nora for a bit, Jaune," Pyrrha said with fake enthusiasm. She smiled at Jaune, then slipped her pajama top off as she waltzed into the bathroom to change.

"Wait!" Jaune cried, answered by a slamming door. He sighed, then flopped down onto his bed as Nora continued on her endless babbling. "Please make it quick, Pyrrha," he grumbled under his breath. Again he was answered, but this time by the sound of a shower starting. Groaning, Jaune sat up.

"What do monkeys even eat anyw-" Nora stopped mid-sentence, a first for her, upon hearing Pyrrha's shower starting. "That reminds me, I forgot to take a shower this morning." She ceased bouncing and tossed her top over her head.

"Nora!" Ren and Jaune shouted simultaneously, covering their eyes.

"What? It's not like I'm not wearing underwear," Nora assured the boys. "See?" She pointed at her bra. "Yeesh." She threw back her hair and leapt off the bed, dashing into the second bathroom directly across from where Pyrrha showered.

Ren, no longer suffering the rib-crushing jumping of his longtime friend, sat up to get dressed. He looked past his combat gear-his green jacket and Stormflower, his dual submachine guns-and instead donned his school uniform in preparation for classes. "Jaune, do you mind if I ask your honest opinion on something?"

Jaune, already sporting his uniform, didn't bother to look up from polishing his sword, Crocea Mors, but said, "Of course, Ren. We are teammates."

"What do you think about Nora and me?"

"I think you guys are great. I'm not exactly sure what you mean, though."

"I mean, as something more than friends." The sudden crash of Jaune's train of thought could have almost been audible. He finally looked up from his sword, eyes wide with surprise.

"Er," Jaune started, awkwardly scratching the back of his head. "I don't know." He broke eye contact with his teammate, eyes aflutter, glancing across the entire room.

Ren's tone no longer was upbeat, but back to his usual monotony. "It's fine. Don't worry about it. We haven't known each other long enough to talk about that yet." He didn't bother to continue, and briskly stepped out of the room.

The sound of the shower had since stopped from Pyrrha's side; she stepped out of the bathroom mere seconds after Ren's abrupt exit. Pyrrha elegantly stepped out of the doorway, buttoning up her own uniform to the top. She opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off abruptly by the other bathroom door. Pyrrha stumbled back against the wall and Nora casually strolled out of the bathroom, sporting full combat gear. "Pyrrha!" Jaune cried, rushing over to her.

Nora turned to look at Jaune, now helping Pyrrha up from the floor. "Sorry, Pyrrha! Didn't see you there!" She giggled.

Pyrrha, a pale hand cast upon her forehead, looked at Nora quizzically. "You do know that we have class in a few minutes, right?"

Nora looked down at herself and saw her armor covering her body. "Oops!" She hopped back into the bathroom, struggling to pull her boots off.

"Just stay here," Jaune told Pyrrha, "and I'll go get you some ice." He left her and turned the corner into the kitchen.


	2. The Fault in the Star

Jaune and Pyrrha were alone on the roof of their dormitory, as Pyrrha had been earlier that morning. However, the roles of the sun and the moon were now opposite, as the sun was escaping behind the horizon just as the moon began to peek in. As they had for the past month, Jaune and Pyrrha trained on the roof every other night. The moon's cobbled reflection was their only source of light at this hour. The dim light illuminated Pyrrha's defined face. Her cheekbones were strongly defined by the shadows surrounding her, and her hair looked much darker than normal without light illuminating it.

Their combat training could look like a dance to an uneducated eye. Pyrrha twirled around barefoot, rapidly landing blows upon Jaune's Crocea Mors shield while Jaune himself did not use a weapon for this training. With the upcoming tournament in Vale set to be fought in pairs, the two friends had decided that Jaune would focus entirely on defense while Pyrrha used her years of experience and natural talent to keep constant pressure on the opposing teams. Jaune lightly stepped around Pyrrha, allowing her to practice a move in which she would leap into the air and use her opponent's own body to catapult herself over the enemy and land a blow in the back. The red-haired girl propelled herself off of Jaune's shield and finished the move with a soft kick to Jaune's back. Beads of sweat glistened on her entire body, reflecting the light of the moon in the night. She sat down in place, exhausted.

"I don't understand how you do it, Pyrrha," Jaune managed, breathing heavily. He stripped off his heavy white armor, leaving him in an undershirt and pants. He let the chestpiece clutter to the ground and took his place across from Pyrrha.

"How I do my acrobatics?" asked Pyrrha. She took out her headband, granting her hair the freedom to fall loosely around her shoulders. "I could teach you, if you would like." She glanced up at Jaune and smiled, her perfectly white teeth contrasting with the blackness around them.

"I don't think I'd be much good at it," Jaune admitted, combing through his hair with his fingers. "Is it just natural talent? I've never seen someone as agile as you, especially when wearing such heavy armor." Jaune motioned towards Pyrrha's heavy bronze armor.

"It is a combination of natural talent and practice. In all honesty, though, I am limited by my armor," Pyrrha stammered, almost reluctantly. "If you want, I could show you what it's like without my armor."

Jaune blushed a bright crimson and looked away from the woman in front of him. "I-I… wouldn't that be… awkward?" He had never seen Pyrrha perform intensive actions without her armor. It appeared to be almost as much a part of her as her weapons, Miló and Akoúo̱.

"No, not really," Pyrrha said. "Now, please, would you mind helping me out with my top while I take off my greaves?" She turned her back to Jaune, exposing the thread which held her armor in place. Jaune, blushing even more than before, scooted closer to Pyrrha and began unthreading the back of her armor as she unstrapped the heavy bronze greaves climbing up a large part of her legs.

Pyrrha's breastplate clattered to the ground, and she rose to her feet. Now, clad in only her miniskirt and a light leather vest, she took a deep breath and sprinted as fast as she could towards the edge of the roof.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune shouted as Pyrrha flung herself off of the roof. He ran over to the ledge she had jumped from, and was both shocked and relieved to see her leaping from windowsill to windowsill. Finally, after climbing across the entire façade of the dormitory, she leapt back up to the roof.

"Jaune, set up your shield on an incline!" She called out. Jaune did as she commanded and braced himself behind his shield, now expanded to cover his entire body. He peered over the shield to see Pyrrha midair jumping towards his shield. She landed on the shield gracefully, then propelled herself into the air with an astounding leap. As she came down from the near twenty-foot drop, she put herself into a tight roll, ending right next to Jaune.

Jaune's mouth was agape. Pyrrha's acrobatics with armor were impressive, but without they were god-like. "Now, Jaune," Pyrrha said, gulping. "I want you to take off my vest for me." She, again, turned around to display a similar back to her previous armor.

Jaune yet again turned red, but did as Pyrrha commanded. He slowly began to unthread her last piece of armor, fully exposing her flawless back to Jaune.

"Jaune, I want you to know something," Pyrrha said, abruptly, as Jaune was about done with unthreading her top. She waved her hand to signal for him to continue, and as he finally finished and Pyrrha's armor fell away it became apparent what she wanted to say. "Jaune, I'm dying." She turned to face Jaune. A large portion of her chest was covered by a black-purple infection. Except for the tan piece of cloth covering her breasts, her entire left side was blackened.

"Pyrrha, what's going on?" Jaune asked, revolted by the unsightly infection.

A lonely tear fell from Pyrrha's left eye, falling for what seemed like an age before she spoke. "Where I come from, in Mistral, there is a terrible genetic plague. One in every one thousand children is born with a small black mark on their side, which develops over time to create," she paused and indicated the blackness on her body, "this. From birth until age sixteen, it is insignificant. It does nothing except foretell the doom of the person whom is born with this. But now, its power is manifesting itself. What that means is, unless I find an antidote in my home region, I will die before the age of eighteen."

Jaune was speechless. Here he thought Pyrrha was invincible, a force of nature, and now she was confessing the fact that she has been doomed to die at an early age since the day she was born.

"Jaune, I need your help. Desperately." Pyrrha grasped his hand within hers and stared directly into his eyes. "This is no longer about training to be a Hunter. This is no longer about faking your transcript to get into this school. This is about me and you, and whether or not we can have any sort of future. I'll give you the night to think about this, but I need an answer soon."

Pyrrha stood up, laced her breastplate up and strapped on her greaves; she leaned down to give Jaune a hug and then was gone.

_Jaune, you have to do this,_Jaune thought to himself. _What are you going to do without Pyrrha?_ He gazed up at the shattered moon, now high in the sky, and appealed to the gods, whether or not any of them existed.


	3. A New Day

The bright, yellow rays of the sun slowly began peeking their way into the windows of team JNPR's room. Jaune slowly opened his eyes, awoken by the dazzling light, and sat up in bed. Looking around him, he saw Ren and Nora still sound asleep, but Pyrrha gone yet again. Stretching, he slid out of bed and reached for his uniform hanging directly next to his bed, carefully ironed for the day's classes. He stripped off his pajamas and dressed, then promptly left the room to find Pyrrha.

"Good morning, Jaune," said Pyrrha as she heard Jaune ascending to the roof. Her leader emerged from the doorway looking worried, undoubtedly due to the previous night's events. Pyrrha wore a similar uniform to that of Jaune: a dark blue blazer, but with a plaid red skirt and dark stockings. As usual, her bright red hair was tied in a loose ponytail spouting from the upper back of her head.

Jaune offered a hand to Pyrrha, who took it and stood to face Jaune. "I've been thinking about what you said last night," he told her. Clasping his hands over hers, he continued, "Pyrrha, you are the best friend I have at this school. You know all my secrets, and now I know all of yours. And more than my best friend, you are my partner. We are a team, united as one in this crazy hell of a time."

Pyrrha looked up at Jaune and allowed a grin to creep across her face. "You mean you're going to help?"

Jaune, making a slight lean towards Pyrrha, finally let out, "Of course." Pyrrha nearly tackled him with a crushing bear hug, tears running down her face. Jaune, not expecting her sudden action, returned the embrace, wrapping his arms around her.

Pyrrha broke away from the embrace after a few more seconds and wiped the back of her hand across her streaky cheeks. "Thank you, Jaune. You don't know how much this means to me." She quickly leaned in and touched his lips to her own. The pair turned an equally vivid shade of red.

"Come on, Pyrrha," Jaune invited. "Let's go back inside." He led Pyrrha to the stairwell, closing the heavy metal door behind them. Jaune peeked into their room; Nora and Ren were gone, evidently to breakfast in the dining hall based on the fact that both their uniforms were gone from their racks.

"Might as well catch up with everyone," Pyrrha said, placing her hands on her narrow hips.

"I suppose so," Jaune agreed. He took one last look at the room before accompanying Pyrrha to the dining hall to meet with Ren, Nora, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang.


	4. Revelations, or Lack Thereof

Jaune, breakfast tray in tow, sauntered over to the long, wooden table occupied by his fellow members of team JNPR and those of team RWBY. Taking his place next to Nora and across from Ruby, he greeted his fellow students. "Hey everyone."

"Hi, Jaune," Ruby greeted. She wore a beaming smile across her young face. Ruby was the leader of team RWBY, and the youngest student in attendance to the school at only fifteen years old.

Jaune dug into his meal, a stack of pancakes with eggs on the side. As he ate, he took care to keep the syrup away from Nora; there were some people who didn't need any more sugar. Ruby rambled on about Crescent Rose, her signature weapon. Jaune still didn't understand the complexities of the weapon; he was unfamiliar with firearms, especially one as unique as Ruby's.

Finished with his food, Jaune rose to dispose of his garbage. "I'll be back in a bit. Talk to you soon, Ruby," Jaune addressed Ruby as he left the dining hall. Now, he turned down the corridor leading to the school's massive library; the library at Beacon was one of the most expansive in all of Vale. If it didn't have what he was looking for, then odds are it didn't exist.

search: mistral region infection

Jaune eagerly awaited the results of his query. Despite already having committed to helping Pyrrha, he wanted to make sure he was not in over his head. While Pyrrha was one of the best warriors in Vale, she was most likely only a few months away from death. Jaune lacked the skill of his teammate; he just wasn't cut out for frontline combat like she was.

no results

Jaune cursed under his breath as he shut down the computer. He reclined in his chair, not knowing what to do. For all he knew, there could be a cure discovered for Pyrrha's infection, or Mistral's climate could allow it to blossom, killing Pyrrha even faster. He drove his fingers roughly through his light blonde hair, and he then kicked himself off the chair, sending it spinning into the wall. He stormed out of the library back to his dorm.

Pyrrha sat solemnly alone on her bed. She had undressed in order to further examine her ever-growing infection. The spot now covered most of her lower chest area, and would continue to spread until it reached her neck, and then her brain, killing her. Behind her, the sound of a turning door knob snapped her to attention. Grabbing her shirt, she dropped low on her mattress and covered herself with a comforter. The door swung open and shut audibly, and heavy footsteps echoed through the room. Peering through a small hole in the comforter, Pyrrha saw Jaune storm in. He sat down on his bed with his head in his hands.

Jaune sat in what he thought to be an empty room. "Dammit, Jaune," he berated himself. "Pyrrha needs you. Get your act together." He stood up and paced the room. "You need to man up. This is your chance to prove to both Pyrrha and yourself that you are a leader, that you can pull your own weight," he continued, still talking to himself.

Pyrrha, still hidden, struggled to put on her shirt without alerting Jaune of her presence. She squeezed her shoulders through the constricting sleeves and began to button up the shirt from the top down. As Jaune continued to chastise himself, she finished buttoning her shirt. She took a deep breath, and then sprang from the bed like a lion pouncing on her prey.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune cried in surprise. He threw his hands in front of his face instinctively in a futile defensive stance.

Pyrrha looked at Jaune and told him, "Jaune, you are a leader. Believe me." She laid a hand upon his shoulder just as he had to her. "What I need you to do is stay focused and composed." She stared deep into his oceanic eyes and said, "Now, I have two tickets for a train to Mistral tomorrow morning at five o'clock. You may look at me as a savior, but now it's my turn. I'll wake you up shortly before we leave." And with that closing statement, she left the room to a destination unknown to Jaune.


End file.
